PESHAWAR: The monitoring and evaluation department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority here on Sunday issued a report on canteens situated on the premises of different universities and suggested installation and repair of water filtration plants in the educational institutions.

The report said that the authority responded to online public complaints and raided almost all canteens in both government and private universities in Peshawar division.

“Fifteen universities and several other educational institutions were visited where more than 78 canteens were checked for food quality, premises and personal hygiene,” said the report. It added that all canteens were issued improvement notices, certain were fined over low and moderate level of food standards violation and some were sealed over major issues.

The report said that four universities and several colleges on the campus of University of Peshawar were more vulnerable and students were left with no option but to take unsafe and unhygienic food.

The director general of the food authority, Riaz Khan Mehsud, said that quarters concerned should be informed about the alarming situation of their respective canteens, failing which sever crackdown would be carried out wherever needed.

He directed Khalid Khatttak, the director operation of the authority, to take up the matter with the concerned institutes and let them know about the worst situation of their canteens.

The report said that more than 600 complaints were received from educational institutions out of which 300 were traced and addressed.

Giving details of the report, Khalid Khattak said that no food safety and personal hygiene measures were taken at the campus canteens. Hr said that not a single staffer was being screened medically for communicable diseases.

The main issues, according to the report, in the canteens of educational institutions include unhygienic water tanks; non-operational water filters; poor infrastructure condition of the premises; unhygienic condition in canteens; availability of banned, substandard and expired food items; poor personal hygiene of the food handlers and unavailability of medical fitness certificates of the workers.

However, the report also appreciated Khyber Medical College for remarkable improvement of its canteens.

The food authority directed all educational institutions to constitute food inspection committees and award contracts of canteens to those contractors, who were aware of the food safety standards.

The institutions were directed to improve infrastructure and install water filters hat should be replaced after every three months. They were asked to ensure medical screening of food handlers.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2019